Three Wall Street banks earn $52 billion from equity trading — CNBC
In the United States, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley collectively generated about $52 billion in equity trading revenue this year. This is nearly 80% of the $67 billion that the five largest investment banks earned from equity operations as of September 30, CNBC reports.
The total revenue of the five largest banks from equity operations has already exceeded the result for all of 2025, which was a record year for this group, by $7 billion. Growth was driven by more active trading in stocks, ETFs and derivatives by institutional and retail investors, as well as global enthusiasm around companies linked to artificial intelligence.
Demand for credit financing
Prime brokerage became an important source of revenue. As part of this business, banks provide hedge funds with margin loans, securities lending services and other trading services. Bank executives reported growing demand for financing bets on AI equipment manufacturers, hyperscalers and chip suppliers.
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At Goldman Sachs, revenue from financing equity transactions rose 96% in the third quarter, to a record $3.37 billion. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley do not disclose this figure separately, but said they saw similar dynamics.
Scale of operations and risks
The largest banks are able to conduct multibillion-dollar deals, including leveraged swaps on volatile shares of AI companies or sector ETFs. According to traders, such institutions can absorb potential losses of $100 million on an individual transaction without a significant impact on quarterly results. Smaller or more specialized banks may therefore turn down some deals.
Institutional investors also actively invested in South Korea and Taiwan, focusing on manufacturers of memory chips and semiconductors for data center construction. At the same time, the International Monetary Fund warned that rising leverage, crowded positions and correlated asset sales by hedge funds could create risks to financial stability. The IMF estimated global hedge fund assets at $13 trillion.
